Mia and Nicholas's moment in the maze and fountain, involving flirtation and a hint of jealousy, inspires Joseph and Clarisse to recall their own bouts of jealousy in regards to each other….
CHAPTER ONE
Clarisse, Queen of Genovia, sighed as she sat back down on her chaise lounge, the unused tea tray set for two sitting on the coffee table in front of her. What had just gone wrong?
Her granddaughter, weeks away from becoming a wife and Queen, had just stormed out of the room, offended that her grandmother had seemed to believe that the 'incident' that afternoon at the garden party, when she and Nicholas (although Clarisse hadn't seen Nicholas herself) had emerged from the maze, wet and bedraggled, had been deliberate.
"Do I want to know?" Clarisse had asked at the time, struggling to hold her tongue and not roll her eyes- and it didn't help that while she had seemed remorseful, Clarisse had the feeling that Mia was more embarrassed than ashamed.
"I don't think so," was all Mia could say in response before scurrying into the palace, wrapping a towel around her shoulders.
It was only this evening when Clarisse had had the opportunity to discuss the situation with Mia, and it had disintegrated into an argument that had culminated in Mia storming out of the room, leaving her exasperated grandmother to wonder what had just occurred.
Was it deliberate or an accident?
The thought occurred to both women at the same time, but in different contexts- Clarisse was wondering whether Mia was deliberately trying to sabotage herself (surely not), effectively handing the throne to Nicholas and, by extension, Viscount Mabrey; while Mia was wondering whether Nicholas was THAT desperate to become King and have power to attempt to try to discredit her, again, and her claim to the throne.
What made it worse, for Mia (and she was grateful that her grandmother hadn't actually witnessed the incident, although afterwards… they had come face to face, Andrew discreetly hanging back) was that, prior to that, she and Nicholas… Lord Devereaux, she reminded her sternly… had competed in a game of one upmanship, comparing Lady Alyssa and Andrew's achievements…
Why, oh why, had she participated in either moment? She was supposed to be the next Queen, and yet she had behaved like a teenager who was flirting….
Wait a minute….
HAD she been flirting with him? HAD she been flirting with him?
No, what was worse than the upmanship game was the fact that… she HAD been flirting with him, Mia realised with a painful twinge, and he had been flirting with her… and that they had both ENJOYED IT!
And then… she paused for a moment outside her closed suite doors… she suddenly remembered how she had felt when she had seen Lord Devereaux and Lady Alyssa arrive at the garden party together… had she actually been jealous?
No, no, no! I couldn't have been jealous… I was feeling sorry for Lady Alyssa, being HIS date…
Oh really? Her subconscious sounded smug. You didn't feel sorry for Lady Alyssa, you were feeling jealous that he had actually brought a date to the garden party… surely you wouldn't have expected him to come alone?
"Great, just great," she muttered to herself as she let herself into her suite and flopped down on the sofa opposite Lily, who was reading a book. "Like I need any more problems."
"What did your grandmother want?" Lily put down her book and looked at Mia. "Was it about this afternoon?"
"No, it was not," Mia said sarcastically before rolling her eyes. "Of course it was, Lily- she wasn't pleased with me, as usual.""
"I can understand her side… although I'm completely on your side," Lily added hastily as Mia scowled at her. "I don't know why you let Nicholas get to you so much."
"I don't know either, although he is just so…infuriating," Mia hissed. "But when he got started on Lady Alyssa's academic achievements, I just… got…."
"Competitive? Stubborn? Wanting a fight?
"All of the above, I guess," Mia admitted, looking away from Lily and gazing out the windows.
"But…." Lily continued.
"But what?"
"There's something you're not telling me…."
"No, there's not," Mia was still avoiding her best friend's eyes which, she knew, wasn't something she should be doing- once Lily's interest was piqued, it was very, very difficult to distract her.
"Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi…."
"Alright, alright," Mia said exasperatedly, throwing up her hands and looking back at Lily. "I think, before we fell into the fountain, I was flirting with me and Nicholas… Lord Devereaux… was flirting back."
"So? You're not married yet."
"But…."
"But what?"
"The worst part, besides the fact that I actually enjoyed it…."
"He's a good looking guy, although not my type," Lily shrugged her shoulders.
"Lil, that's not it… it was when I saw him joining the party with Lady Alyssa, I felt something…"
"Pity for Lady Alyssa?"
"No, not that… it was… I felt jealous…"
"Jealous?" Lily suddenly looked serious. "Why would you be feeling jealous? Of Lady Alyssa?"
"I don't know," Mia stared down at her hands.
"Mia," Lily leaned forward in her chair and looked at her seriously. "This is not good, not good at all."
"I know that… I'm just glad that Grandma didn't see what happened… it was bad enough when she saw that I was wet."
"Well, it kind of would be a surprise to see you wet… but Mia, you're seriously going to have to stay away from Nicholas if you want this wedding to happen. You know I don't approve of this arranged marriage thing," she made a face. "But if you want to become Queen instead of the Mabreys, then you're just going to have to stay away from him, hard as this may be, since he's staying at the palace… but I'll run interference for you, you know that. "
"I know that- all of it and I DO want to become Queen… I just never realised how difficult it would be and how many hoops I would have to jump through," Mia looked downcast and Lily realised that she was feeling the pressure and she didn't need her best friend to add any more pressure to her.
"I just wish I could have seen Nicholas after you left him in the fountain," Lily said with a grin and Mia couldn't help but laugh.
"Yes, it was quite funny… I pushed him back into it again and then tried to storm off, but it didn't help that my dress was sticking to my legs," she giggled. "Now I know why petticoats aren't trendy anymore," before she glanced at her watch and sighed. "It is getting late, I suppose I had better go to bed and hope that nothing goes wrong tomorrow," as Mia stood up and stretched.
"Nothing will, I can feel it," Lily said wisely as she too stood up and stretched. "Hopefully Lord Devereaux won't be at the parade."
"That's the least of my worries… I'm just hoping that Grandma will have calmed down tomorrow… I hate being in her bad books."
000
Meanwhile, back in the Queen's suite, Clarisse was pacing the suite, still annoyed at her granddaughter but also annoyed at herself for losing her temper with Mia- she was young, she was still learning and….
But falling into a fountain with a man who was not her fiancé, who wanted the throne, had a dubious, power mad uncle... WHAT was she thinking?!
The thought of Viscount Mabrey having manipulated that situation just angered her further and she knew that she wouldn't be able to sleep very much tonight… and then there was a gentle tap on the door.
"Come in," she called, wondering whether it would be Mia, returning to apologize, but instead it was Joseph. "Joseph? Is there anything the matter?"
"I saw the Princess storming back to her suite on the cameras and I thought…."
"You were wondering how it went between my granddaughter and myself," Clarisse said coolly and he looked slightly taken aback.
"Well, yes…"
"Well, to answer your question, it didn't go very well," she signalled that he was able to step into her suite, which he did, closing the door behind him and then joining her on the sofa. "She didn't seem very remorseful at all… in fact, she seemed offended that I was blaming her for the incident."
"Were you?" he asked quietly and she looked surprised.
"Why would I blame her for what happened?"
"Because she was discovered with Nicholas, emerging from a fountain, dripping wet, their respective dates nowhere near them?"
"Well…."
"And that she and Nicholas were overheard having a heated argument, comparing their date's academic records…I don't think you're blaming her as such, I think you're blaming yourself."
"Excuse me?" Clarisse was starting to look indignant.
"I think you are torn between wanting to be a protective grandmother and the Queen of Genovia, who cannot condone misbehaviour that may embarrass the Crown and the country…"
"Joseph, you're starting to make me sound like a monster!"
"You're not a monster, and yes, you have every right to be disappointed in Mia and what happened this afternoon…"
"But…"
"There's something else bothering you."
"Aside from the fact that Mia is somehow managing to continue to sabotage herself in embarrassingly public ways, and usually involving Lord Devereaux?"
"Aside from that."
"Joseph… I think that she was flirting with him prior to them falling into the fountain- and that he was flirting with her… Joseph- I think that they are attracted to each other."
"Which is something quite natural, they are both very attractive young people."
"That's not helping, Joseph."
"Well, it's true. They're young, attractive, intelligent…."
"And Mia has already made a commitment to Andrew Jacoby, to become his wife…"
"An arranged marriage orchestrated by parliament," Joseph said bluntly and Clarisse stopped to stare at him. Joseph had made his position clear in regards to the marriage- he was against it, stating it as 'barbaric' and 'old fashioned'- but he had never made his bitterness towards the instigators quite as clear. "I'm sorry, my dear, I shouldn't have said that."
"I wanted your opinion and I appreciate it- and you know how I feel about the situation, but there is nothing we can do."
"I know you are stressed, but you don't need to make Mia feel any worse about herself than she already does," he said quietly and Clarisse nodded and sighed heavily.
There was a silence between them for a while- a silence that was not uncomfortable, given all the time they had spent together over the years- and then Joseph began to chuckle.
"What? What's so funny?"
"I was just thinking… it WAS funny, seeing them both soaking wet… even you have to admit it."
"Yes," she finally admitted with a small smile. "It was amusing…but WHY did it happen, Joseph? Andrew is quite a nice young man…"
"Jealousy," Joseph said simply and Clarisse looked at him again.
"Jealousy? Who was jealous of whom?"
"They were both jealous…apparently, there was a little altercation between the two of them before they disappeared… haven't you seen the way Mia looks at Nicholas? Nicholas is more circumspect, but he's jealous as well…"
"Jealous, nonsense!"
"Haven't you ever been jealous, Clarisse?" he asked quietly. "Haven't you felt that it's unfair that someone has something that you want but you're not allowed to go after it, knowing that if you do, there will be trouble?"
Clarisse looked at him, slightly alarmed but his expression was calm and steady and he was giving her a small smile. "Have you?"
"Well, I…." she hesitated, still holding his gaze. "Yes I have. Have you?"
"Many, many times," he said immediately. "When did it happen for you?"
"I'll tell you my experience, if you tell me yours."
"It's a deal."